Specialized
Women's Tarmac Expert
- 2018

Details

The Women's Tarmac Expert isn't just a bike that's born to race—it's a bike that proves you don't need to take out a second mortgage to have a luxurious ride. This Women's Tarmac will excel dutifully at every discipline of road riding, from climbs to sprints—put it through its paces, and don't be surprised that you're smiling at the top of the climb.

To get the weight around 950 grams, Specialized utilized advanced aerospace composite optimization software to revolutionize the construction and layup of their FACT 10r carbon. They further improved their Rider-First Engineered technology to ensure that the new Tarmac is stiff and compliant in exactly the right places. With this revamp, they also updated the geometry—basing it on countless Retül data points and professional rider input. This enabled them to develop a performance road geometry that perfects the combination of a responsive front end and short wheelbase, delivering instantaneous response and optimal power transfer.

And while stiffness aids in the aforementioned, compliance must also be utilized for an optimal ride quality. That's why Specialized designed a seatpost that builds compliance into the upper 120mm where clamping doesn't happen, dropped the seatstays, and altered the seat tube shape. They also added tire clearance up to 30mm, which translates to a 28mm Turbo Cotton on a Roval SLX 24 rim. This allows lower pressures for decreased rolling resistance, increased traction, and more comfort. Altogether, these additions still have the Tarmac riding like a true race-machine, but just takes a bit of the sting out of those road imperfections.

And while this is all great, Specialized knows that aerodynamics are the most important thing they can do to make you faster. The Boels-Dolmans Pro Tour riders, after all, are demanding aero improvements on every bike. With this, the aero goal was to discover where they could essentially "add aero for free," by not taking anything away from the hallmarks of the Tarmac design. During the six-month iterative process, three areas were discovered where they could do this—a new fork shape, dropped seatstays with aero tubes, and a d-shaped seatpost and seat tube. The result? A bike that's approximately 45 seconds faster over 40km compared to other lightweight bikes in the same category. A speed savings that you'll feel when you're attacking off the front of the peloton.

- The FACT 10r carbon frame combines the lightweight performance and compliance of top-end carbon production methods with Rider-First Engineered design that ensures every frame size has the same legendary climbing responsiveness and descending prowess you'd expect from a Tarmac.

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From I-75 Exit 11 Immokalee Road head westTurn left onto Livingston RoadTurn Right onto Vanderbilt Beach RoadTravel west past US 41We are in the Pavilion Shopping Center on the NW corner of Vanderbilt Beach Road and US 41, at the west end of the plaza